Pakistan need aggressive individuals like Sarfraz: Afridi

KARACHI - Former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi is off the view that the young Pakistan team need to put in a lot of hard work and need more aggressive individuals like ODI and T20I captain Sarfraz Ahmed to move forwards in all formats of the game.

Veterans like Misbah-ul-Haq and Younus Khan have already announced that they would be retire from international cricket after the three-match Test series against West Indies. With their absence from the dressing room, Pakistan would surely be looking on players like Sarfraz to take the charge and carry the team forward. “We need a lot of hard work going forward,” Afridi was quoted as saying.

“No doubt, Sarfraz is an aggressive captain and the team needs such an individual. My best wishes are with him and I hope he finds the right combination as soon as possible so that he can build his team and gain confidence,” he added. 37-year-old Afridi earlier this year announced his retirement from international cricket, bringing to an end his illustrious 21-year career.

Nicknamed ‘Boom Boom’, the all-rounder was active in the International T20 format after having quit Test cricket in 2010 and ODIs in 2015. Afridi said that the biggest achievement of his career was to represent Pakistan at the international level. “Playing for Pakistan has been a big achievement for me. It can’t get bigger than that,” he said.

“Cricket makes you cry more than it makes you laugh. We laughed, cried, enjoyed ourselves and a great deal, even became emotional and we were aggressive at times as well. So we have been through many phases. I never thought of playing for so many years and I would like to thank the Almighty for this,” he added. The 37-year-old further asserted that during the course of 21-year-old long career, he couldn’t achieve everything he aimed for but he did manage to fulfill a few dreams.